Perturbation and hoarseness: a pilot study of six children's voices

Fundamental frequency (FO) perturbation has been found to be useful as an acoustic correlate of the perception of dysphonia in adult voices. In a previous investigation, we showed that hoarseness in children's voices is a stable concept composed mainly of three predictors: hyperfunction, breathiness, and roughness. In the present investigation, the relation between FO perturbation and hoarseness as well as its predictors was analyzed in running speech of six children representing different degrees of hoarseness. Two perturbation measures were used: the standard deviation of the distribution of perturbation data and the mean of the absolute value of perturbation. The results revealed no clear relation.